Chapter Text
Lena's body clearly doesn't get the memo that it's been through trauma, because just before the first rays of sunlight peek through the curtains, Lena jerks awake from her thrilling dream of Supergirl pelting her board members with clipboards and pens. When the warmth below her shifts, she takes stock of her position with growing embarrassment. She's still laying on her stomach, tucked against Kara's side, but at some point in the night she's wedged a leg between Kara's, the blonde's hipbone pressing just under her belly.
Carefully extricating herself, she tentatively lifts an arm, smiling in relief when she feels nothing. She rolls so that only their arms are touching. Still nothing. Finally, she sits up fully, swinging her legs over the edge and standing. Freedom.
It's not as satisfying as she thought it would be. Hm. She's actually kind of cold. Lena looks around, pondering the gentle lightening of the room for only a moment before tucking herself back into the warmth of the blankets, sitting cross-legged at Kara's side.
Slowly, she nudges at the blonde, who wakes gradually and calmly. "Morning", she murmurs, casting a curious glance around the room before shutting her eyes again. "Rao, what time is it?"
"Good morning, Kara Zor-El. Care to watch the sunrise with me?"
Kara opens her eyes again, and grins.
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Lena makes tea while Kara patters around the kitchen, occasionally flipping open the little seed graphic on her pajama shirt and smiling goofily at Lena. They take turns in the washroom, blessedly alone this time, and step out onto Lena's balcony together without so much as a word.
Kara, with an arm hooked around Lena's elbow, steers them towards the lawn chair on the left.
"You don't have to stick to me anymore, Kara. I'd be perfectly fine sitting on the other side of the table.
Kara pouts. "So you don't want to sit with me?"
And how can she say no?
They squeeze together on one lawn chair, tea precariously balanced on a tiny side table. When Lena shivers, Kara superspeeds back into the apartment to grab a blanket, tucking it carefully around the two of them. The pair watches sunlight glint off high-rises, washing the city in a tranquil orange. Peace, Lena thinks. This is peace.
And so, against Kara's steady heat and among the muted sounds of a waking city, Lena drifts back into unconsciousness.
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The waking is not so elegant.
Lena makes the mistake of shifting backwards, intent on rolling over, but reaches the edge of the lawn chair much sooner than expected. Her yelp is what awakens Kara, who blindly reaches out to grasp at her with the sun in her eyes. She succeeds only in catching the edge of Lena's shirt, and follows the momentum off the chair. Lena finds her minor descent slowed by Kara's hand splayed across her back, and settles against the ground before looking up at Kara, hovering just over her body.
She bites back a gasp. The sunlight backs Kara's silhouette in a dazzling halo, the blonde's face sleep-soft and bare. The glasses are off, and Lena can see every fleck of those familiar sea-blue eyes. But the smile, the smile is what has her undone. Genuine and content and fond, Kara looks ethereal.
Kara grins at her as they sit up, the blonde's legs folding in on either side of Lena so she's balanced atop Lena's thighs. "Good morning again."
"Good morning."
"Thank you for the sunrise."
"I don't think you can thank me for the sun."
"But I can thank you for everything else", Kara says with so much adoration that Lena's heart rate quickens. The way the blonde's eyes narrow indicates that it is in no way subtle.
The intensity of Kara's gaze causes Lena to duck her head to the side, cheeks flushing. She feels Kara reach out to tuck loose hair behind her ear, hand lingering on Lena's cheek.
"Lena..."
Weight shifts as Kara leans forward ever so slightly, carefully tilting Lena's head back to face her. Maybe she does want this, Lena allows herself to hope. So she doesn't move a muscle, eyes dipping to Kara's lips, now a hair's breadth away. The hand on her cheek curls around the nape of her neck ever so gently.
Are you going to try to kill me? , the hollow words echo in Lena's mind, trapped and cold and vulnerable.
Lena jerks backwards suddenly, feeling as if her very breath is leaving her as the distance between them increases. She slides out from under Kara, who backs up just as quickly, looking embarrassed, confused, but most of all, apologetic.
"I'm so sorry if I made you uncomfortable, or-or pressured or anything. I just thought- I heard- you don't feel the same?"
"It doesn't matter what I feel", she makes the mistake of saying. Kara's eyes widen.
"So you do! And I- you know- what's wrong?"
"You don't know what you're feeling. You- you're confused, and it doesn't matter what I-", she stops herself suddenly, conflicted. Say you don't want her. Say you don't want this. Just say it, and she'll move on.
"It's not you, it's me." Seriously? That's the best you could do? "I- I don't-"
"You're lying", Kara says, eyes narrowed. Then she softens. "Is it me? Because I have no more secrets, Lena. I promise you. Or if you need time to figure things out, I get it. I just want you to know-"
"It's not that simple, Kara, it's not about-"
"Lena Luthor. Do you want to kiss me, yes or no?"
"I don't deserve you!", she finally blurts. "I betrayed you! The Fortress, the Kryptonite-"
"Lena, I would willingly eat Kryptonite if you would just admit you want to kiss me, because-"
Buried truths. Castles in the sky. Promise.
"I know exactly what I'm feeling. I know what I want."
Castles in the sky, Lena.
"Do you?"
Fuck the castles.
Later, she'll blame passion for forgetting, again, that her Kara is a superhero, because her mind blanks out when she makes her decision. Lena strides forward, emboldened and free, intent on pushing Kara against the wall. Of course, it doesn't happen like that. She's stopped short by the monolith of Kara's body, and raises fondly exasperated eyes to the blonde's smirking face.
"That was cute."
Without warning, a hand slips around her waist, lifting her smoothly into the air. Her legs instinctively come to wrap around Kara's waist when she feels the wall press into her back. Their mouths slot together as if it was meant to be, heated and urgent and everything she'd ever dreamed.
(She's not afraid to admit that now, not with Kara's lips tucked behind her ear and hand pulling at the hem of her shirt, every touch new and thrilling and electric.)
"Wait!", Lena pants, smirking at Kara's poorly suppressed whine. "We are not getting nasty on my balcony", she says sternly. "Float me to bed, Kara."
She's just as quick to comply as she was the night before.
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"Time's well past, guys, what are you still doing- KARA DANVERS, you had one job! Hug her, not defile her!"
"Oh, hey Alex. In my defense, she was willingly defiled."
("Kara's right.")
"I'm gonna go bleach my eyes."